Corrupted
by Bazy
Summary: Frodo and Sam at Mount Doom. What would've happened if........


---Yes, the tenses in this tend to flip from past to present, lol. Bear with me! Please R/R! Disclaimer: Nope, they're not mine, dang it.---  
  
Corrupted  
  
I gazed down into the molten lava. I stood here, at the Crack of Doom, the light from the fires below me glaring, illuminating my face. I held the Ring in my hand, but the turmoil of the mountain did not drown out it's incessant whispering, no, it intensified them. "Anything you want, you can have." Whispered the Ring. "You can posses all the beauty in Arda, all of its lands and countries.. And crush those in your way. Choose now! Power, inevitably, but for the Dark Lord.. or for you?"  
  
After all I've been through to reach where I now stand, why shouldn't I be rewarded? I don't have to use the Ring for evil.. But I want to. I will crush Sauron, and claim his throne. I will take Gondor, and it's neighbouring countries. They will be mine. I will enslave those within for daring to resist. The Shire, it's stupid inhabitants will be enslaved as well. Why can't I have this? Why can't I have the power that I have laboured to carry for so long?  
  
What will happen if I just let it all fall away, and be destroyed, never to trouble the fates of this world again? It will be lost: the ability to change day to night, the power to seize the once proud nations, the fear to instill in the weak minds of minions. Oh, how I longed for that power, that supremacy, that strength.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Master!" I cried. What was wrong with you? You're entire body is tense, still as stone. And if I thought the uproar from the fiery volcano was loud, you're voice was deafening.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
I could sense your presence even before your shout, and it still made me jerk. The Ring gave me such sharpened reflexes. "I have come," I said, in a deathly voice. You shivered, I could have laughed. All I could think of was the Ring, was how wonderful it would be to wear it again. The call of the cool metal, and cool it was, despite the glowing red letters, was fierce. I knew what would happen if I destroyed the it. Excruciating pain. My will would completely shatter. I knew this because the Ring told me. We are one, the Ring and I. Now all I needed to do was claim it, for my own.  
  
All these thoughts crossed my mind in a flash. "But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!" I slipped it on my finger.  
  
The earth seemed to tremble. I could see so clearly. The dim Mordor atmosphere was clear and crisp. The orange and red glow of the lava was now a searing white. I could see Sam's eyes widen. But that was of little importance. I felt power surging into my being, coursing through my body I stretched my sight to Barad-dûr and saw Sauron for the first time. I could see his mind. He was directing his Nazgul to me. I looked then into their minds, as well, and ordered them to destroy Sauron instead. They changed direction as if to obey, which did not surprise me, but Sauron countered it. I was preparing to battle with him when suddenly Gollum lunged at me and I was forced to focus on that. Sam stabbed Gollum from behind before I could unsheath my own sword. The limp body fell from me and Sam kicked him into the fire. He looked at me, I knew I was invisible to him, for didn't look into my eyes.  
  
Sauron and I continued to fight, and the Nazgûl came ever closer to submitting to me. when Sam's voice interrupted my thoughts. "No, Master! You can't do this, Frodo!" Sam shouted. I shoved him off. Then it happened. The Dark Lord's Nazgûl turned on him, his power diminished, his Tower fell around him. And his minions looked to me.  
  
I laughed mirthlessly. "You see Sam? I did what I had originally intended. I've destroyed Sauron. Isn't that what we set out to do?" A strange light came into your eyes, an angry light. "Sam?" You slashed at me with your already drawn sword but I avoided it. "Sam!" This time your blow found it's mark. I fell backwards, the white fires filled my vision as I plummeted downward. My hands flew to the ledge and I clutched it desperately. I looked at you pleadingly, and you could see me.  
  
The Ring had fallen off my hand.  
  
I turned my head to watch it fall. Down, into the glowing volcano. Gone. Forever. My Ring. My power. It glinted tauntingly in the flames. You're eyes were forgiving but you hesitated.  
  
"Sam! Help me up!" I shouted. I felt as if a great weight had been placed upon me. My mind was mourning its sudden emptiness. My thoughts were blank. All the evil that had consumed my mind was gone, and there was nothing left.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
I couldn't believe what you had done, and what you had said. I just stared at the air where I supposed you stood in disbelief. I couldn't control my anger. Look what the Ring had done. It had finally taken you. I knew that you weren't the Frodo I knew anymore. You weren't the Frodo from the Shire, the one who laughed when I fussed over the garden, who lifted my spirits when they fell, who delighted in reading but also in dancing and parties. You weren't Frodo.  
  
A wave of anger shot through my heart like a poisoned arrow. I stabbed at you twice, and the second time I felt the blade slice your arm. I winced in remorse, I had hurt you. and intentionally too. Suddenly your familiar face was visible and I would have been relieved. but you were clinging to the edge of the chasm. You looked at me, frightened.  
  
I reached out my hand.  
  
The earth shook then. You were only hanging on by one hand now, and it was slipping. "Please!" you cried. I grasped the blade of my sword, careful not to cut myself, and lowered the hilt down to you. "I'm so sorry," I heard you sob, "I have failed. The quest has failed." You hung your head and then looked back up at me, "How can I forgive myself?". Tears shimmered in your eyes.  
  
The earth shook again. Time went slower as your hand left the ledge and you fell to your death.  
  
" 'The realm of Sauron is ended!' said Gandalf. 'The Ringbearer has fulfilled his Quest.' " - The Return of the King, The Field of Cormallen 


End file.
